Head Injuries… More Serious Than You Thought
A little more than a year ago, the Boston University Medical Center made Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, an official disease. Since then, we have seen countless articles and reports about the causes and effects of CTE in regards to football players and athletes. More research is being done every day to find a cure, and to minimize the effects of the disease for those who suffer with it.
The New York Times reported on a new mouth guard created by a bioengineer named David Camarillo, who lead a team at the Cam Lab at Stanford. The mouth guard has motion sensors that recorded data that gave scientists an opportunity to see the exact effects on the brain at the moment of impact. In this two-minute video, you can see precisely how the brain moves within the skull after the football player has been hit. According to their findings, the data “are a powerful indication that football helmets as they are now designed do not protect players from concussions and long-term brain disease like chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E.”
How the brain is injured upon impact
When you take a hit to the head – while playing sports, as a result of an auto accident, while on the job, etc. – your brain moves inside your skull cavity, protected only by a few layers of tissue and fluid. Even non-penetrating brain injuries can lead to bruising on the gray matter of your brain (the outer-most part) as it hits the skull.
However, what the data from the mouth guard shows is that the inner-most parts of the brain (called the white matter) are also injured, because the fibers within twist and expand when the brain is jostled. The Times likens it to shaking a bowl of Jell-O: the ripple effect is not limited merely to the outside of the brain, but to the inside as well.
It is not only NFL players who wear helmets, though: so do other athletes like hockey players, as well as competitive and casual bike riders and skateboarders. In Maryland, we have laws on the books regarding helmet safety for children and adults, because studies have shown the chances of being seriously injured in a bike accident are diminished when one wears protective gear.
Plaxen Adler Muncy, P.A. is a premier personal injury law firm in Maryland. Our skilled team of Baltimore traumatic brain injury attorneys is available to answer your questions and to help you make a claim for compensation if you have been hurt through another person’s negligence. To schedule a free initial consultation at our firm, please call 410-730-7737, or fill out our contact form.
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Bruce Plaxen was honored as the 2009 Maryland Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Maryland Association for Justice. For more information on his legal background, please visit his attorney bio.